This Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup combines tender chicken, hearty wild rice, and a medley of vegetables in a velvety broth. Our step-by-step instructions make this soup fail-proof, ensuring that even beginners can create a hearty and delicious meal.
Soup is a comforting and versatile dish that every home cook should have in their culinary repertoire. If you’re new to the kitchen or looking to enhance your cooking skills, you’re in for a treat! In this beginner-friendly guide, we’ll take you on a step-by-step journey to master the art of making Chicken and Wild Rice Soup.
From ingredient selection to flavor balance, we’ve got you covered.
How to Make Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
1. Gathering Your Ingredients: Before diving into the cooking process, it’s crucial to gather all the necessary ingredients. For this recipe, you’ll need cooked wild rice, onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, butter, garlic, chicken broth, salt, pepper, cooked chicken, flour, milk, and cream.
2. Sautéing the Flavor Base: Heat up a stockpot and melt the butter. Add the onions, carrots, celery, and mushrooms, then sauté them until they become slightly tender. This process releases their flavors and sets the foundation for a robust soup. Don’t forget to add the minced garlic, as it adds an aromatic punch that will elevate the overall taste.
3. Creating the Creamy Soup Base: Sprinkle the flour over the sautéed veggies, stirring it in to coat them evenly. This step helps thicken the soup and gives it a creamy texture. Slowly whisk in chicken broth, allowing the flavors to meld together.
4. Adding the Essential Ingredients: Add cooked wild rice and diced/shredded chicken to the pot, immersing them in the broth. Simmer until the veggies are tender.
5. Finishing Touches and Serving: To achieve that creamy richness, add the milk and heavy cream into the soup. Allow the soup to simmer a little longer, ensuring the chicken is heated through.
6. Now comes the best part — ladle the piping hot soup into bowls, garnishing with some freshly chopped parsley or chives for a pop of freshness. Serve with crusty bread or a side salad for a complete and delightful meal.
SUBSTITUTIONS:
- Flour: For a gluten-free version, replace flour with a gluten-free blend or use a cornstarch-water slurry to thicken the soup.
- Heavy Cream: For a lighter version of the soup, consider substituting heavy cream with half and half or whole milk. Alternatively, you can opt for a non-dairy alternative like coconut milk or almond milk for a creamy and dairy-free option.
- Chicken: If you prefer a vegetarian or vegan version, you can omit the chicken altogether or substitute it with cooked chickpeas, tofu, or plant-based protein alternatives.
- Vegetable Additions: Feel free to experiment with additional vegetables in the soup. You can add ingredients like corn, peas, spinach, or peppers to enhance the nutritional value and flavor of the soup.
LOVE CREAMY SOUPS? TRY THESE:
- Creamy Potato Soup
- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
- The Most Incredible Crab Bisque
CREAMY CHICKEN AND WILD RICE SOUP
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Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Total Time: 45-55 minutes
Description
A flavorful creamy chicken soup with onions, carrots, garlic, mushrooms and filling wild rice. You can’t go wrong !
Ingredients
- 2 Cup Cooked Wild rice
- 1 Cup Onion, diced
- 1 Cup Carrots, diced (from 2 medium)
- 1 Cup Celery diced (from 2 – 3 stalks)
- 8 oz. Mushrooms, sliced
- 4 Tbsp Butter
- 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
- 4 ½ Cups Chicken Broth
- 1–2 teaspoon Sea Salt
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1–2 Chicken breasts, cooked and diced or shredded
- ¼ cup Flour
- 1 ½ Cups Whole Milk
- ½ Cup Heavy Cream (or 2 Cups Half and Half)
Instructions
- Start by preparing all your ingredients. Cook the wild rice according to the package instructions, if you haven’t already done so. Also, cook and dice or shred the chicken breasts.
- In a large soup pot, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.
- Add the diced onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms to the pot. Sauté them for about 5-7 minutes, or until they become tender.
- Add the minced garlic to the pot. Continue to cook for another minute or 2.
- Sprinkle the flour in and whisk for 1-2 minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste.
- Slowly pour in the 4 ½ cups of chicken broth while stirring constantly. Make sure there are no lumps from the flour.
- Add the cooked wild rice and diced/shredded chicken to the pot. Season the soup with 1–2 teaspoons of sea salt (adjust to taste) and ¼ – ½ teaspoon of black pepper (adjust to taste). Stir everything together.
- Let the soup simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until it thickens slightly and the vegetables are fully tender.
- Reduce the heat to low and pour in 1 ½ cups of whole milk and ½ cup of heavy cream (or 1-2 cups half and half). Gently stir the soup and let it heat through without boiling for another 5-7 minutes.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30-40 minutes
- Category: Soups
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 223
- Sugar: 3 gr
- Sodium: 654 mg
- Fat: 13.8 gr
- Carbohydrates: 14.2
- Fiber: 1.6
- Protein: 11
- Cholesterol: 60 mg
I asked for help about a year ago because there are conflicting directions on timing of the addition of liquids. Also, about the quantity from Heavy Cream vs. Half and Half: I used the 4 cups of Half&Half and that contributed to extremely runny soup.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
If you are substituting the cream for half and half the recipe calls for 2 cups, not 4. Nonetheless, I rewrote the instructions to be a little more clear. Hopefully this helps.
I’d like to make a couple comments for people who decide to make this recipe. It has the potential to be very delicious, with a couple mentions.
*You have a big discrepancy in the recipe, and the separate directions. In the recipe you say Add the cream and simmer on low for 10 minutes, but in the directions completely separate from the recipe, you say to add the cream off heat. Please correct this, and which is correct? I added the half and half substitute for cream as the recipe called for, and simmered for 10 minutes, and the soup was completely runny when I dished it up. I cooked half the soup in a stainless large pan, and it was the same runny consistency. While we ate a bowl, I left the 2 pans cooking, and after about 1/2 hour with burner turned higher, then it did thicken up.
*The carrots, celery, and onions are not even beginning to get tender after 4 minutes of cooking, (unless you have a way to make them paper thin) in fact I cooked them much longer and they were still not tender. I did cook them in a Le Creuset so maybe that is the problem. Because I was doubling the recipe, after I cooked the veggies in the Le Creuset, I split them up and used two pans because I didn’t have one pan large enough to hold all the contents.
The second day the soup was a much thicker consistency. The flavors had blended, and then it was delicious.
Thanks for your comments –
Way too much half and half, way too thin now.
Any suggestions for making the roux without the flour?! Gluten… 🙁
Thanks!!
Bob Mills makes a gluten free flour Michelle. You can try that.
Hi, Did you ever have a chicken pot pie recipe on your site? I made it on a regular basis last fall and thought it was on your site, but now I can’t find it.